A delighted landlord today opened the way for soccer fans to enjoy early morning drinks and football at pubs during this summer's World Cup competition.

Martin Gough, who runs the White Hart in Brislington, Bristol, won a High Court test case ruling that he can legally serve alcohol during four important games - in at least one instance as early as 7am.

Now the law has been clarified, it is expected that other public houses will apply for similar orders allowing them to open early.

The High Court heard that other magistrates - in Northampton, Blackpool and parts of Birmingham - had already granted extensions to pubs to serve alcohol during England games.

Today's new licensing guidelines still leave it open to local justices to make up their own minds whether exemptions should be granted in individual cases, taking into account the specific circumstances of each application.

The 39-year-old licensee had appealed against a decision by magistrates in the city who indicated they were willing to allow him to open but said previous High Court rulings from the 1970s and 1980s prevented them from doing so.

The court heard that, because of time differences, World Cup 2002 matches in Japan and South Korea would be played before the normal permitted hours for the sale of alcohol in pubs.

Mr Gough's victory came as two senior judges declared the earlier High Court rulings outdated.

They had been based on findings by judges that customers could not be said to be truly "participating" in "special occasions" justifying special orders of exemption under the licensing laws.

Lord Woolf, the Lord Chief Justice, sitting with Mr Justice Harrison, accepted the pub landlord's arguments that times had changed and world cup matches were now special occasions and his customers were truly participating in a celebratory event.

The White Hart had two 2.5 metre screens and one 30-inch television ready to show world cup matches from Japan and South Korea in June.

At least a quarter of the White Hart audience was expected to be female, with women organising small parties to attend and raffles and competitions being arranged to raise money for local charities.

Allowing Mr Gough's appeal and granting him an exemption order, Lord Woolf said: "If one were to ask anyone today whether the World Cup was a national special event I apprehend that the reaction would be immediate that it was such an event."

He added: "The customers are going to the public house, as the justices found here, to take part in a collective enjoyment of the event."

The atmosphere of a public house was "a different experience" from watching at home.

Lord Woolf said: "Spectators can obtain the satisfaction of being involved as collective participants in what is happening many thousands of miles away".

Mr Justice Harrison agreed and said things had "plainly moved on" and "televised football, often on large screens in public houses, has now become an acknowledged leisure event".

Whether pubs with a solitary TV "at the corner of the bar" will now get exemptions remains to be seen.

The judge drew a distinction between those pubs which provided facilities for matches "to be enjoyed collectively as a shared experience" and those "where there is perhaps only a small television on the corner of the bar".

After the hearing Mr Gough said: "We are absolutely delighted with the decision.

"It is what the British public wanted. It is what the licensees wanted. We are delighted in industry terms that we are moving towards the 21st century."